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PROVIDENCE OF GOD (Part one)

Anyone who doubts the providence of God should ask the Hebrews in the days of Moses while in the wilderness on their journey back to the promised land after about 430 years sojourn in Egypt. The children of Israel murmured and accused Moses of weaning them from the Egyptian foodstuff only to waist them in the desert. God in his infinite mercy provided manna for them for forty years. They complained of not having flesh or eat in their menu. HE gave them qual birds in such an overwhelming number to the extent of falling sick having over-eaten the provided meat. Exodus 16: 1-30.

Providence of God is in two forms. One is that which you solicit for through fasting, prayers and supplications. The other is through God’s grace. It is often times an unmerited favor. At times,
Man is fond of saying that help just came from the unknown rather than making reference to the help provided by the Almighty God. There are personal experiences from people who are at their wits end. In that state of helplessness or in desperate mood, people usually call on God for help and the help would miraculously come from “no-where” or from unknown source.

The features of who God is does explains clearly or gives us an insight as to how and why God’s Providence does come to us irrespective of our righteousness or sinful nature. HE is not dependent on us rather we are the ones who cannot function should he withdraws his grace and steadfast love from us.As much as God is merciful, we cannot stampede Him to Acton our behalf against His holy will. In His sovereignty, He is King of kings, Lord of lords, The Omnipotent and the Omniscient as well as the maker of heaven and earth. By these attributes, He has designed everything in existence such that they all function as programmed. We see that in Ephesians 1: 10-11, as it concerns man it says “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him. In whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (KJV). God rules over all things. For instance, He cares for the birds of the air as well as all animals or the lily, plants and not human beings alone. Romans 11: 25-34

During the reign of King Ahab, God caused Elijah to get rid of over four hundred prophets of Baal. Consequently, Jezebel swore to kill Elijah within twenty-four hours. By human nature, Elijah, he who in spirit did God’s justice to sinners had to run away for dear life. God had to send a raven to feed him as a fugitive. Elijah went for forty days and night in the strength of the food. 1 Kings 17: 1-6. It is obvious that God’s sovereignty is extremely composite in nature forHE superintends over all things. Feeding the children of Israel with manna for forty years in the wilderness revealed clearly that HE is faithful, powerful, and possesses unalloyed love for all in existence. Exodus 16: 2-4

God’s providence is not food and drink only, it includes among others, saving one from death
that was planned out in secrecy but by divine providence revealed to save Paul’s life. In the case of Paul’s trial, it was his sister’s son that God used to reveal the plot to the garrison commander who quickly arranged to foil the plot before it could materialize since Paul was not only a Pharisee but also a bonafide Roman citizen. Acts 23: 1-30 (KJV) God is Jehovah Jireh, our provider of both spiritual and physical needs.

The Word

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” John 1:1 There is more to “The Word” than merely describing it as speech. There is therefore duality of purpose in our understanding of the word. Thus “The Word” of God is divine and was manifest in our Lord Jesus Christ. It can be understood as the eternal wisdom of God, that is eternally true and unbendable. At the time of creation, the bible recorded that God spoke to bring all things into being from a formless void. Genesis 1-29. The Gospel of John does corroborate Moses’ account on creation as divinely revealed to him. “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made, In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” John 1: 2-4 (KJV). Jesus being The Word of God is interpreted in John 10 : 9 as “I am the door: if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture”. There are many phases to the Word of God. It heals, soothes, rewards everybody according to his or her intension and action, conquers the devil, enlightens the seeking hearts and teaches man how to make wealth and many more.

Words form the basis of exchanging ideas among we mortals. The words we speak in our everyday life is not comparable to The Word of God. God speaks to people by seeing visions, dreaming dreams or hearing audible divine voices 1Samuel 3:1-10. The Words of God are forever true as read in verses11-14 of the same chapter. Abraham received Angels of God physically and welcomed them with hospitality. At the end of the visit he got the prophesy of bearing the promised son, Isaac. The promise of 25 years got fulfilled by the message the Angels delivered to him. The promise began in Chapter 15: 2-4 “And Abram said, Lord GOD, what will thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou has given me no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.”

There are so many examples in the bible where anointed men of God made proclamation that came true. Our Lord Jesus performed so many miracles through such divine Words backed by individual’s faith. The woman with the issue of blood wiggled through the crowd to touch just the tip of Jesus’ garment. Jesus knew someone tapped power from Him and inquired from His disciples the one who touched his garment. They, in their mortal experience, felt it was impossible to know such in view of the teeming crowd. When He asked again, the woman owned up because she believed that if only she could touch the tip of His garment, she would receive her healing. Jesus then said; “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith has made thee whole and the woman was made whole from that hour.” Matthew 9: 22b. Also in Matthew 4: 4, (KJV) we see how Jesus defeated the devil the tempter by his utterances which were the WORDS of God. “….It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”.

The life of Prophet Elijah was full of issuing the Words of God and coming true. His encounter with King Ahab in his proclamation of “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my words.” Thereafter, there seemed to be dialogue between Elijah and God directing his every step until the end of the famine. The encounter with the widow of Zarephath that ended in the famous words of God for provision of food to the widow until the famine shall be over; “For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah” 1 King 17: 1-15. The Word of God is usually instantly efficacious. Judas Iscariot led those the High Priest sent to bring Jesus for his trial and crucifixion and identified Jesus to them clearly with “an unholy kiss”. John 18: 6 revealed thus: “As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground”. This shows that there is power in the Word of God that came to the agents of wickedness in high places. Also in John 4: 49-51 “The noble man saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith , Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him, Thy son liveth.” We can see clearly that the YES from God is forever YES, same goes for his NO, since HE is not man that can lie.